Lines of defense
by bechloehuh
Summary: "At first there were hundreds of thousands of us. Different ages, ranging from eight years old to sixty years old. Anyone under the age of eight or over the age of sixty were killed on the spot. Some escaped. A small percentage of them were rescued. Nobody knows who rescued them, or how they were actually rescued but they were. You have no idea how much I envy them." Bechloe AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So yesterday I went on my tablet and I thought "Hey, now would be a great time to write the next chapter of Merry Little Christmas." But then, because I had just watched a really cool action movie - that I've forgotten the name of - I was like, "I actually wanna write something more action-adventure or suspenseful." So I just started to write, and I came out with this. And if I'm honest, I'm really excited about writing this, because I've never just thought of something like this as I go along before. I normally have to plan everything and go back and change the whole thing a few times, but this came out perfectly the first time.**

**I'm telling you now, this fic is absolutely nothing like Merry Little Christmas, or any of my others actually. There will be absolutely no fluff whatsoever in this fic. (maybe a tiny little bit later on.) It will be all action/adventure/horror/thriller. ****I've rated this story M because of the typical trigger warnings, death, rape, gore, torture and yes, zombies. This isn't a typical end-of-the-world/apocalypse fic though, it will have a few twists and turns in it.. I just hope you'll all be able to keep up.**

**Just a little run down of this chapter, the first part is from Beca's POV. The rest of it in bold is a flashback. All future chapters will be in third-person, because if I'm honest, I find it pretty hard writing in first person. So yeah, pretty long author's note but I just wanted to let you all know why I posted this. Anyway, without further ado, here's chapter 1.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

At first there were hundreds of thousands of us.

Different ages, ranging from eight years old to sixty years old. Anyone under the age of eight or over the age of sixty were killed on the spot. Some escaped. A small percentage of them were rescued. Nobody knows who rescued them, or how they were actually rescued; but they were - and you have no idea how much I envy those bastards.

Some tried to escape but failed. God knows what they did to those guys. Some just died of old age. Some starved to death. Some killed themselves. The old and young ones died within the first few months. They couldn't handle it. Most of them are gone due to petty, stupid things. Leaving the door open. Letting the monsters in. Demons taking over them. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not doing a simple task. Failing a mission. The usual. Most of the others were tortured and left for dead, just for the sake of it. Just so the capitol could play their sick little games for their own sadistic pleasure. Now there's only twenty of us left. Twenty innocent teenagers and young-adults, who have to fight for their lives, with no other choice. Only a small number of ways out.

The worst part?

Fifteen of these twenty survivors are my best friends. Chloe, Aubrey, Stacie, Jesse, Benji, Luke, Cynthia-Rose, Fat Amy, Lily, Jessica, Denise, Ashley, Unicycle, Bumper and Donald. And honestly? I don't know what I would do if either of these guys died the way the others have.

We're fine though, I think. We know what to do; where to go. We know not to go outside of this large hall that we all have lived in for.. six years now? We know that if we go on the balcony, we're likely to be shot down or massacred without a second glance. We know that if we eat more than we're supposed to at meal times, or if we ask for more food, they'll take us away and God knows what will happen. We know that if we try and dig our way out, well.. it just won't happen. And we'll probably end up getting our throats slit for being stupid enough to try it. We know that if we do actually manage to get out of here (still unlikely) we'll probably get eaten or ripped apart limb by limb.

You probably think I'm making this up, right? That I'm just exaggerating and trying to make this sound more fucked up than it already is?

No.

Trust me; you know nothing about me. I've witnessed more people being tortured than you've had hot meals. I've seen worse things than you can even imagine. Your worst nightmares? I've faced worse than that. I've stared death straight in the eye. I've been beaten and bruised so many times that I've lost count of the amount of injuries I've had throughout my life. You don't know anything about where I'm from or where I've been. You know nothing about the shit I've been through these past six years. Nothing about the things I've witnessed. The good friends I've witnessed dying in front of my very eyes. My family? Taken away from me in the blink of an eye. I've seen more people die than any other soldier out there. And no, I'm not a soldier. Far from it, my friend.

All I am is a survivor.

I will tell you a few things about me. My name is Beca Mitchell. I am girl number 311. I am twenty years old. Blue eyes, brown hair. I am an experiment.

And this?_ This_ is my story.

* * *

_**Six years ago..**_

**"No, the idea is to put your back foot flat across the tail, and put the ball of your front foot right behind the board."**

**"How the heck do you know this? You're a girl!"**

**Beca let out a loud laugh, pushing Jesse's shoulder; almost making him lose balance on his skateboard. The boy sported a goofy grin as he adjusted the strap on his school backpack. He let out a huff as he, once again, failed at doing a kick-flip on his board.**

**Beca watched him with a sly smirk and a roll of her eyes, her hands in the pockets of her jeans. She looked at her watch and she noticed that it was probably time she was supposed to be home.**

**"How are your mom and dad?" Jesse suddenly asked, distracted by his skateboard too much to see Beca's face turn into a dark scowl. He looked up when Beca didn't answer, wincing when the brunette just made a face and turned around and started walking down the sidewalk. He picked the board up and tucked it under his arm, his little feet jogging to catch up to the small girl.**

**"Stupid question, I'm sorry."**

**"No It's fine." she sighed. "They just shout a lot more than usual. And the other day, dad left for like, 2 days."**

**"Did he say where he went?"**

**"Nope. But he's back now. They're probably shouting at each other right now actually."**

**"Why don't you talk to them? Tell them that you don't like it when they fight." he suggested, and Beca just shook her head as he foot unconsciously kicked a pebble onto the road.**

**"They never listen."**

**"Right," he nodded slowly. He looked up to see that they were nearing his house. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."**

**"See you." she smiled, ducking her head as she carried on walking down the street. Luckily, her house was only about seven houses down from Jesse's.**

**She eventually reached her front gate at about 5pm, and she looked over the road at her other best friend's house. She squinted her eyes and she's sure that she could see Chloe dancing in her room. Her light was turned on, the pink colour of her walls making her room stand out the most out of the other rooms in the house. She smiled to herself, turning around to unlock the gate and walk up to the footpath to her home.**

**"Hey sweetie, did you have a good day at school?" Karen asked, coming down the stairs with a cup of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. She didn't look at Beca, too distracted by what was on her phone, but it didn't bother the brunette. She was used to it. ****So she just mumbled a "yeah" as she ran upstairs to her room.**

**She threw her school bag on the floor at the side of her bed, and she turned her TV and Xbox on. As soon as the screen loaded, she noticed straight away that Chloe was online and playing on COD. - and yes, it surprised her when she found out that her best friend was a fan of the game, but it also made her like Chloe even more, if that was possible. ****She put her headset on and connected to Chloe's game straight away, and she grinned as she heard her best friend's voice in her ear.**

**"Hey Becs!"**

**"What's the run down?" she asked with a smirk as she perched cross-legged on the floor, and she heard Chloe giggle.**

**"Well, the other team is winning by like, four points.. But now that you're here, we're gonna kick butt!"**

**"Hell yeah we are."**

**The two played the game for a few hours, bantering back and forth through the headset, until Beca heard a loud bang downstairs. She looked towards her bedroom door, noting that it was still locked, and she listened carefully for anything strange. Nothing peaked her interest though, and the two went back to playing the game.**

**"Oh this stupid guy shot me again, Beca!" Chloe's voice echoed through the earpiece, and Beca let out a soft laugh and shook her head.**

**"I'm coming, where are you?"**

**"I'm near the woods."**

**"What-where?"**

**"Near the-"**

**The redhead's voice was suddenly cut off by another excruciatingly loud bang, and Beca's eyebrows knitted together as her hands came up to cover her ears.**

**"What was that?!" she asked in a panicked voice. "Chloe? Chloe, are you okay?! Answer me!"**

**"Hello princess."**

**The brunette's face dropped at the muffled voice coming from her earpiece. That wasn't her best friend's voice. In fact, it was far from it. It was a _man's_ voice. She turned around, eyeing her room suspiciously, as if someone was going to creep up on her, but she saw nothing peculiar.**

**"Chlo? Chloe, are you there? Are you okay?! Chloe!"**

**There was no answer. She tried again, but with every time she mentioned her best friend's name, she just got more panicked at why the redhead wasn't answering her. Her heart started to beat faster, eyes widening as another loud bang erupted from downstairs. Only this time, the bang sounded like a gun shot.**

**She looked at the TV screen. The game was still going. Only, she couldn't hear any sound. She blocked everything out. The shouting from downstairs? Blocked out. The sound of people screaming and yelling from outside of her window? Blocked out. The police sirens and fire engines? She couldn't hear anything. ****She blocked the whole world out; the only sound she was aware of was the blood-curdling scream that echoed through her Xbox headset.**

**"CHLOE!" she cried out, ripping the headset off of her head with so much force that the microphone snapped off of it. She instantly shot up with wide-eyes and ran to the window, and the could never have prepared herself for what she saw. The sight before her eyes made her scream out in shock, her hand quickly coming up to cover her mouth.**

**Black police vans and FBI trucks and cars surrounded every house in the neighborhood. She looked to her left and saw people being dragged into vans. Helicopters with spotlights shining down on the streets. Men in black uniform scattered the roads. The thing that scared her the most? Her best friend's house was up in flames.**

**"No." she whispered, shaking her head. Her grip on the windowsill tightened as she watched someone drag an elderly man out of the building two houses down from Chloe's. She recognized him as Mr Walters, a man she had known since she was a baby. He was one of the nicest men she'd ever met; always giving her and her friends some money for ice cream. And his wife, also one of the nicest women she'd ever met, made the best homemade bread in the whole world. They were the nicest family, and she dreaded what was going to happen to them.**

**Then, as if she only just realized she actually had a family of her own, she ran towards her bedroom door and opened it forcefully, almost making it come off of it's hinges. She wanted to shout out and yell for her parents, but she figured that doing that would be a pretty stupid move. Another deafening crash echoed through the house hold, and the whole building shook violently. She managed to keep her balance though, holding on to the banister on the stairs. Her house was on fire too, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why.**

**She found herself thinking about what was happening. Why were there so many police? Why were there men taking people away and throwing them in their trucks? What had happened to Chloe? Is she alright? Is Jesse alright? All her friends; Benji, Aubrey, Stacie, Luke, Unicycle.. are they alright? Are they.. alive? Where are her parents?**

**Before she could do anything, a scream from downstairs tore her out of her reverie. She jumped back, recognizing the scream straight away as her mothers. Before she could say anything though, one of the walls at the far side of the house collapsed due to the fire.**

**"Beca!" a male voice yelled, his voice breaking as he coughed and choked on the smoke.**

**"Dad?! DAD!" she shouted, looking around hopelessly at where the voice came from. ****Her feet started running of their own accord. Flying down the stairs so fast that she tripped over and fell off of the bottom step.**

**She stood up with uneasy balance, looking around her house which she had only just noticed was completely surrounded with scorching hot fire and black smoke. It stung her eyes as she squinted, trying and searching for anything or anyone. She sniffed up, a burning smell aching in her nostrils. Her eyes watered, and she brought up a shaky hand to wipe the tears away. She wasn't sure what the thing was that was making her cry; the smoke in the air or the fact that her friends and family could all be dead right now, and there was nothing she could do about it.**

**Her head snapped up at the sound of the floorboards loudly creaking above her, and her eyes almost popped out of her head at the sight.**

**"DADDY!"**

**"Beca, run!" he rasped out, clutching his bloody shoulder. He started to cough, choking on the smoke that was quickly starting to surround them both.**

**"Dad, I'm scared!" she yelled, her throat feeling as if she had swallowed sandpaper. He told her to run again, but she didn't listen. She dropped to her knees, ignoring the pain in them as she started to climb the stairs, coughing and spluttering and ignoring her father's pleas to leave. To run. To get out of here. Away from them. Away from him.**

**"Beca please! GO!"**

**"I'm not leaving you, dad, you're hurt!"**

**"I'm not!" He screamed at her, telling her to back away, pleading her to save herself. "Please, Beca! I'm not safe! GO!"**

**"What?!" she choked out. The fumes from the fire felt like they were migrating to her brain cells. Her mind was hazy. Her eyes were cloudy with tears. Her head was pounding. She didn't know what the hell was happening. All she knew was that she was in pain, that's for sure.**

**"BECA!" her dad screamed out and she looked up, straining her neck enough to see the man's body fall to the ground with a thud. Blood started to run out of his mouth, and his eyes turned white. Her breath hitched as she backed away, back down the stairs. She couldn't take her eyes off of him as she carried on backing away. She looked straight at him, watching the way his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body shook violently. She roamed her eyes over his body, and only then did she realize that the blood all over his shoulder wasn't a gunshot wound like she thought it was. No, all she could tell.. was that her father had been _bitten._**

**She quickly tore her eyes away from him and looked around with a choked sob, trying to figure out how the hell she could get out of here. She looked back to her father's body at the top of the stairs, which was now limp and helpless. His arm had come off, he was surrounded in his blood, and his eyes were now shut.**

**Her whole world felt like it was collapsing in that instant as she fell to the ground. Her throat constricted. She felt like she couldn't breathe. No scrap that.. she_ literally_ couldn't breathe. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut and her fists clenched as her forehead rested against the floor and her back arched off of the ground. Her legs ached from how long she had been kneeling there for. ****She wasn't actually sure how long she had been there though. Her mind was hazy. Her head pounded and her eyes just wouldn't open, no matter how hard she tried. She panted, trying to catch her breath as tears streamed down her face.**

**She was helpless.**

**She pushed her forehead harder against the floor and squeezed her eyes tighter. Her eye brows knitted together, thinking and _pleading_ for a plan. That's all she needed. A plan to escape this sick, twisted nightmare that she was in right now.**

**All of a sudden, she caught her breath and she couldn't help the loud ear-piercing scream from escaping her lips. She turned her head to the side, seeing her house from another angle. Everything was sideways, due to her position on the floor. The whole house was up in flames, and she was surrounded by black smoke and falling, fiery objects. Her eyes searched for something- _anything_ that could help her. She screamed out again, this time her voice breaking, a sob erupting from deep within. **

**And then she heard it.**

**Footsteps. Getting louder and louder, getting closer and closer.**

**And a then she saw a flash of red, and she tried her best to convince herself that it was Chloe. But she's pretty sure that it was just another object going up in flames. She imagined it being Chloe though. Chloe always knew where she was, she always knew how to help her. That was one of the reasons they were best friends. Her eyes squeezed shut, tighter than ever, and she could see the veins in her eyelids from how tight they were shut. She thought of Chloe though. She thought of how Chloe would come in and save her, and take her away. She thought of how Chloe would come get her and everything would be okay again. She let out another sob, wanting all this to be true.**

**Then a black figure approached her, and she was pulled up violently. ****She heard their foreign voice yell, "this is the last one!" as he or she carried her through the house. Her eyes blinked a few times and they squinted as she looked up to see who was carrying her. She couldn't see though. She couldn't see or feel anything other than fear.**

**All she knew, was that this person had just saved her life.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Once again, the paragraphs in bold are flashbacks/events from the past.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**"What are you doing?! Where are you taking me?! Get off me! HELP!"**

**She struggled and pleaded against the man's strong hand gripping her wrist. She hit his arm, her fist clenched as she punched his arm over and over, but it had no effect on his strong, ripped, six-foot-something build. He only gripped her wrist tighter, and she screamed out in agony.**

**"HELP ME! SOMEONE!"**

**"Shut the fuck up!" the man growled, turning around and pushing her back against the wall with so much force that she had to struggle to catch her breath afterwards. She collapsed to the ground, but he pulled her up by her neck and slammed her against the wall.**

**"Please." she husked, her breath ragged as she dug her nails into his large hand, trying to pry him off of her so she could breathe, but it was no use. ****He pushed her further up the wall by her neck until her feet lifted off of the ground, and her legs thrashed about hopelessly.**

**"Let me.. go!"**

**"The more you struggle, the harder this will be for you, princess."**

**Her eyes widened like saucers and she stopped struggling against him. Princess? That's what the voice said to Chloe over the Xbox headset. _Princess._ Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of her best friend. **

**Princess.**

**"Please," she whispered. "Where's.. Chloe?"**

**"Oh, don't worry. Your little girlfriend is perfectly safe." he smirked, finally releasing her and letting her fall to the ground. She panted, trying to even out her breaths. Then she looked up at the man, tears sliding helplessly down her face.**

**"Let me see her, please-I.. please, just.. please take me to her! Please!"**

**He laughed, a deep, evil laugh, and she scowled as she angrily wiped the tears away. He pulled her up by her hair and she grunted in pain, his eyes not even showing the slightest hint of remorse.**

**"No chance."**

* * *

Beca's arm instinctively reached out for Chloe's waist as she heard a loud bang come from the other side of the hall. Her eyes shot open wide, and she was relieved to see her best friend's bright, red hair in front of her eyes. She lifted her head up a few inches so she could see what was going on and who caused the bang, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight at the other end of the hall. Her head instantly laid back down on the floor and her grip on the redhead's waist tightened as she closed her eyes tightly.

"Allen!"

The brunette's eye brows furrowed at the request and her fingers twitched unconsciously. _**Allen? That's Bumper's second name..**_

_**Wait a minute.**_

"ALLEN!" The man yelled again, his voice vibrating off of the huge, brick walls. The brunette opened one eye, and her head moved to the side just in time to see Bumper quickly scramble up off of the floor, standing up straight as he looked towards the three men at the door at the other side of the hall.

"Get your shit. Pick a partner. You've got five minutes."

_**Oh, fuck**_, the brunette thought, watching Bumper's face automatically pale at the man's words.

The boy reached down to the floor to pick up his backpack, letting out a small groan at the pain in his back from sleeping on the floor. He then approached the small brunette who was pretending to be asleep, praying to God that he would note that she was sleeping and choose somebody else. Praying to God that he would just let her be, and leave her with Chloe. Leave her to protect Chloe.

But then she felt a soft kick on her thigh, and she bit the inside of her cheek.

"Beca." he whispered, but she didn't budge. She stayed still, hoping he would leave her to sleep.

"Beca wake up, you gotta come with me."

She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut before she opened them quickly, her pupils dilating with nothing but anger. She turned around and she wanted to just stand up and slap him. Slap him for being such a little bitch and picking her; the strongest one here to go out there with him. Sure, he was her friend, but he was a fucking pussy when it came to doing tasks.

She stood up, glaring at him as she angrily picked up her backpack and her jacket. She didn't say a word, and neither did he, as they both made their way to the three guys at the door.

"We need more food." the one in the middle, Wade, said with a smug grin, and she scoffed but didn't say a word.

The one on the left of him, Joey- or Joe, or.. something like that, gave them both a pistol, slamming them into their chests and she let out a cough at the abrupt force. She wanted to rear back and slam her fist in his face repeatedly, but she knew that would get her nowhere; only dead. So she turned her head to look at Bumper, who's eyes were darting around the room nervously.

"Off you go then." Wade said with an amused looking smile, and the brunette scowled as she pushed past him. She had taken this route many times before, so it didn't surprise them that there was no need to give them the run down of where to go, where not to go, and how long to be.

She opened the door, stepping outside with Bumper. Her eyes darted around the rubble and rotten limbs she was about to go through, keeping an eye out for any unusual movement or creatures. She took a step, and immediately a gunshot rang out from a few miles away. She looked at Bumper, who's eyes were wide with fear, and she stared straight ahead of her as she loaded her pistol.

"One step at a time." she whispered to him with a smirk as the huge gate behind them slammed shut.

She's lost count of how many times she's taken this route, and not only with Bumper. A lot of people had come to her when they had been asked to go find food, because they knew that she was the most skilled of them all. The thing is, she has no idea why they think that. She doesn't think she's skilled. She's just a twenty-year old girl who, for some reason, isn't scared of anything outside of this building. In fact, she's more scared of what's inside the building. Of the sick, twisted people inside the building she has been living in for six years.

She's faced horrendous conditions over these years; at one point even being held hostage in a room without food or water for five days because she wouldn't talk to anybody, or do anything. The zombies outside were nothing compared to these monstrous so-called humans. They could tear her world apart in an instant, and there was nothing she could do about it. They're stone cold killers. They're murdered more people than anybody can even imagine. What surprised Beca though; they haven't killed her. The others? They killed them as soon as they refused to do something. But Beca? No. For some reason, they saw something in her. Potential? No. Confidence? Hardly. Bravery? Yes.

Beca's head shot up at the sound of something moving on the ground to the left of her. She squinted her eyes to see what it was, but saw nothing other than the usual random dead body on the ground. She felt a tap on her arm, and turned around to see Bumper staring to his right hand side, and she followed his line of vision.

"Bingo." she said in a barely audible tone, and she took a hesitant step forward. Placing a hand on Bumpers shoulder, she raised her pistol to point at the large stag in front of her.

"Don't move." she whispered to him, so he didn't. In fact, he almost stopped breathing as Beca took one step forward, loading her pistol and aiming it at the animal's head. She took a deep breath, her composure not even wavering as her finger twitched on the trigger.

An excruciatingly loud shot rang out and echoed in the air, and the earth rumbled beneath them.

"FUCK!" She yelled as the stag ran away. She tried to shoot at it but she missed it by inches, resulting in the bullet hitting a pile of rubble on the ground. "Ugh, fucking asshole!"

"Beca, you-"

"-NO! No, Bumper!" she cried out. "For fuck's sake! I'm fucking sick of this! I'm sick of being the one responsible for getting our food! I fucking missed it, and you know what? If we don't find something, _I'll_ be the one who get's the blame! No you,_ me_! Remember a few weeks ago? Me and Lily went out to get some firewood, but we couldn't find any because it had all been fucking burnt!" she rambled, unaware of Bumper stood as still has a statue as he stared straight ahead of him, his blood running cold. "And guess who got the blame? This girl! I almost got fucking eaten, but all they care about is their food, or their firewood, or their weapons! They're evil bastards for putting us through this, and I can't take it anymore!"

"Beca-"

"-I swear to God, if they so much as even lay a hand on me if we don't walk in with some dinner, then I'm gonna fucking shoot them in the face, honestly! FUCK!"

"BECA!"

"WHAT?!"

The boy screamed out, a high-pitched, deafening scream, which made the brunette wince and drop her gun, her hands coming up to cover her ears. His face paled, his eyes filling with tears as he turned around and ran; though he struggled due to the mud, large rocks, and abandoned limbs scattered all over the solid ground.

Beca's eyebrows furrowed as she watched Bumper run further and further away from her, yelling and screaming profanities as he did so. She shivered, her eyes looking to the left of her where she saw movement, and she couldn't help the small gasp escape her lips. She slowly bent down, not taking her eyes off of the six creatures standing stationery on top of a rock.

Her hand searched for the pistol she had dropped, and she cringed and shook her hand as it met a frail body part. She bit the inside of her cheek and eventually, her hand came into contact with the cold, metal pistol laying on the ground. She carried on watching the zombies, who had now started to slowly walk towards where Bumper had ran to. She shook her head, a small, daring move, but it didn't affect her.

She was surprised that they hadn't seen her. The zombies carried on walking, and she smiled despite herself as one of them tripped over and it's body fell to the floor with a thud. (She couldn't help it, they're fucking stupid.) It carried on dragging it's body across the floor though, the other's limping in front of it as she checked how many bullets were in the gun.

Four.

"Fuck." she whispered inaudibly, loading the gun as she thought of how she could get back to the gate without being eaten. She didn't have enough bullets for each of the zombies, and she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to shoot two of them at once. She puffed out a breath of air as she looked around with beady eyes, just to make sure she wasn't surrounded.

Her eyes widened when she noticed they were near a tree now, and her mouth formed into a tight-lipped grin as she noticed that one of the tree branches were bent and there was a rope attached to it.

_**It's a trap**_, she thought to herself, moving from her crouching position and slowly making her way behind a fairly large rock, thankful that she was out of the creatures' sight. She looked behind her, just to make sure that there was nothing there that could possibly tear her from limb to limb, and she sighed in relief when there was no sign of anything dead or alive.

She held the gun up in a tight-grip against the rock, and closed one eye as she aimed it at the rope. A single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. She took a deep breath. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

_**Come on**_, she told herself, **_just fucking shoot it._**

She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger, biting her lip as she heard the gun shot echo through her ears.

Her eyes shot open at the sound of a loud wail coming from one of the zombies, and she chastised herself for not being good with her aim with a pistol. She thought she had stupidly hit one of them instead of the tree, but when she saw the six creatures running away, and the tree now standing up straight, she sighed in relief.

The zombies were soon out of sight, running away from the commotion of the tree, and she started to jog through the rubble. Another loud wail caught her off guard and she fell to the floor, her hand falling beside a lifeless, cold hand. She quickly stood up and whipped her head around once again to see where the sound came from. She thought of shouting for Bumper, but that would be a pretty stupid move to say the least. (She may hate it here, but she'd rather not get eaten just yet.)

So she carried on jogging, occasionally looking around to see if there were any more zombies around. She let out a disgusted sound as her boot stepped in a severed head, and she kicked it off with a grunt. She carried on jogging, sighing in relief when she heard Bumper's voice shout her name.

She followed the boy's painful yells which lead her through a hoard of trees. She hid behind one as she loaded her pistol. With a deep breath, she stretched her neck to look around the tree, and she couldn't help the quiet "holy fucking shit" escape her lips as she saw her friend lying helpless on the floor. He was surrounded by blood, but that wasn't the problem. No, what was standing right behind him was the problem.

The large eight-foot creature didn't see her (thank God), as it took a step forward and eyed the boy who was laid on the floor clutching his stomach. It seemed to ponder something for a while, as if deciding which one of the boy's limbs he should rip off first. And yes, Beca knew for sure, that he would eventually settle on one, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Because man, these ones were not ordinary zombies. Far from it.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to control her labored breathing. Her eyes opened, and she panicked as she watched her friend lay on the floor. His eyes shot around to look for something to help him, but there was nothing. He hadn't seen Beca, and he started to wonder if she had abandoned him. But then, he met her eyes, and nothing but relief flooded his face.

That's all he could think though, before the creature's abnormally large foot slammed down hard on to his body, and he screamed out in agony as blood splattered all over the place

Beca's hand quickly shot up to cover her mouth, stopping the loud scream she wanted to let out so badly. Her eyes widened at the sight of her friend's body, squashed flat on the ground with his inside splayed everywhere. She quickly turned around and ran. Sprinted away from the creature, away from Bumper, the images of his eyes meeting hers milliseconds before his body was impaled with the creature's huge foot.

She shook her head as she ran, trying to get rid of the images. She carried on sprinting, not even worrying about the range of limbs under her feet as she tried to get away as fast as she could. She ran and ran until she finally made it back to the large capitol gate. She pounded on the door, looking behind her for any zombies but seeing nothing but the images of Bumper's dead body splayed helplessly on the ground.

"Open the fucking door!" she screamed, banging her fists against the blood-covered metal.

The gate opened, and she ran in, not even bothering to show the keeper her ID card. She carried on running, hoping to just get inside with no questions asked. But it was never that easy to begin with. What made her think she'd be able to do that now?

A large, muscled body suddenly stood in front of her and he pushed her back with the huge machine gun he had clutched in his large fingers. Her body fell backwards on to the ground and she dropped the pistol Joe had given her before they went out. Her eyes darted around, looking to see if there was anyone else in the base, but there was nobody.

"Where's the food?" Wade ordered, his usually permanent scowl etched on his face as he looked down at her.

"I-we.. I couldn't! We found a stag but then zombies c-came, and Bumper!" she yelled out, but not a single tear fell from her eye. "Bumper's dead! A fucking huge zombie took him and-and he-"

The man's loud grunt interrupted her, his gun pointing down at the brunette's small body.

"Please don't! It wasn't my fault, I swear! There was a gun-shot and the stag got away!" she tried reasoning with him, holding her hands in front of her face. "Please, don't fucking shoot me!"

The man laughed, lowering the gun slightly as he watched the girl's hands shake, her body looking small and fragile on the floor.

"Come on.. princess." he smirked evilly, pulling her up by her arm and dragging her inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Chloe groaned quietly and her back cracked when she rolled over from being laid on the floor for so long. She rubbed her eyes with a yawn, and her hands came up to hold her head as she felt a sharp, throbbing pain in it.

"God." she grumbled painfully, remembering that she had used the last of her headache tablets the other day. She figured that Beca would have some seeing as the brunette doesn't get headaches that easily. She turned over to nudge Beca, but frowned when all she was met with was empty space. Immediately, she sat up and her eyes darted around the huge room.

People were still sleeping, scattered around the floor of the large hall, each with only their backpacks and one thin comforter covering them. (If you could call it a comforter. It was more like an A2 piece of paper.)

She looked around to see if Beca was sitting at the window like she sometimes does when she can't sleep, but there was no sign of her. Quietly, Chloe made her way over to Aubrey who was laid with Stacie, her back pressed against the brunette's front as Stacie held a protective arm over her waist.

"Bree." she whispered in a hushed tone, trying her hardest not to wake anybody else up. Judging by the darkness out of the window, it was probably still the middle of the night, or the early hours of the morning if that. She nudged the blonde's shoulder lightly, trying to suppress the groan when Aubrey didn't make any sign of movement other than her soft breathing.

The redhead looked around the dim room once again for the brunette, but like before, she was nowhere to be found. She nudged Aubrey's shoulder once again, and this time she felt a hand wrap tightly around her wrist. She winced at the thumb pressing into her pulse point, and Aubrey's eyes shot open to see the redhead trying to pry her hand off of her wrist.

"Shit, Chloe, I'm so sorry." she whispered, sitting up to take Chloe's hand in hers. "Did I hurt you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." the redhead said, and quickly looked behind her when she heard a noise. It just turned out to be Jesse rolling over in his sleep though, and she turned her head back round to look at her best friend. "I don't know where Beca is."

"What?"

"She's gone. I woke up and she wasn't there. Aubrey, I'm scared. What if-"

"No." Aubrey stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder as she scooted forward a little bit, and Chloe let out a shaky breath of air. "Don't even think about saying that. This is Beca we're talking about. They wouldn't do anything to her without her putting up a fight. She's the strongest one of us, Chloe. You really think she'd leave you.. leave **_us_**, just like that?

The redhead shook her head, a single tear rolling down her face as Aubrey pulled her body in to hers. She cradled her in her arms as the redhead sobbed silently, whispering comforting words in her ear and occasionally pressing a soft kiss her head.

Before they knew it, an hour and a half passed by and Stacie, after noticing that Aubrey was no longer in her arms, sat up with tired eyes. She saw the blonde sat a few feet away from her with Chloe in her arms, and she raised her eyebrows at the sight. She stood up and made her way over to them, crouching down and placing a hand on Chloe's shoulder.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, and Aubrey shook her head with a painful smile.

"I don't know where Beca is." Chloe whispered, her voice hoarse from crying, and Stacie frowned, looking over to where both Beca and Chloe had been sleeping.

"She's taken her backpack." Stacie said, and Chloe frowned, but before she could say anything, Stacie stood up and walked around the room. She seemed to observe every single person, leaving Aubrey and Chloe with confused, questioning looks as they held onto each other.

Eventually, Stacie came back and Chloe immediately noticed the worried look on her face.

"Bumper isn't here either." she whispered, crouching down next to the two of them, and she saw Chloe's face drop. The redhead looked at her best friend, who's eyes were darting around the room as she worried her lip between her teeth.

"I fucking hate him." Chloe seethed, running a shaky hand through her hair, nothing but anger laced in her voice.

"Chloe, you don't know if he picked her to go with him. Maybe they made them both go together. You can't blame Bumper if he-"

"-No, Aubrey!" she yelled in a hushed tone, trying not to draw attention to herself. "We both know that Bumper hates Beca. He has hated her ever since she got sent out with Kelley a year ago and came back without her. He blames her for Kelley's death, Aubrey, and we all know that he only picks Beca because he wants to be the one to be sent out with someone and then come back alone. He wants her dead, Bree! The amount of times he's picked her when they're sent out to get something, it proves that he wants her out of here. She can't see that though, because she tries her hardest to protect her friends! It wasn't her fault that Kelley died, but Bumper blames her!"

"Chloe, calm down." Stacie whispered as she stroked her friend's shoulder, her eyes darting to the left when they all heard a huge bang. Everyone's breath caught in their throat when they saw two out of the three main guards, Joe and Seth. Their machine guns were secured around their bodies as they held onto them like they were their little babies. They looked around the large room until Seth nudged Joe with his shoulder, and then pointed towards the three girls.

"Beale!" Joe yelled, his abnormally deep voice reverberating off of the four metal walls, and Chloe's blood ran cold.

"No." she whispered inaudibly, looking between Stacie and Aubrey. Looking for anything. Help? Support? Guidance? She didn't know. But she didn't even have chance to know before he yelled her name again even louder, and she stood up with shaky legs. She felt Aubrey's hand grip her calf, and she looked down to see her best friend conveying so much emotion in her eyes, that she almost got lost in them. She nodded down at her, a silent promise that everything's going to be okay, and she crouched down to pick her backpack up.

"Leave the bag!" Seth shouted, and her eyes widened. She didn't say anything though; she just gave Aubrey and Stacie one last longing look before she walked towards the two men at the door.

Immediately, both of them grabbed one of her arms each, and they dragged her towards the door. She didn't even bother to struggle, knowing that she was too weak for them. She took one last look behind her to see Aubrey and Stacie staring straight ahead at her. It didn't take a genius to know that they were crying as they held onto each other.

She gave them one last smile before they pulled her through the door, like they had so many times before.

* * *

_**Eight years ago..**_

**"Hey mom, I'm going to Chloe's." Beca said as she pulled her leather coat on, the item being way too big for her petite, twelve year old little body. She picked her converse up from where they were sitting beside the doorway and pulled them on, leaning over to tie her laces.**

**"I'm just about to put dinner out." Karen sighed as she appeared in the doorway. "Couldn't you have told me before I made your favorite?"**

**"Pizza isn't my favorite, mom." she grumbled, standing up straight as she looked at the woman who had her arms crossed in front of her.**

**"Pizza has always been your favorite."**

**"No, it hasn't. It never has. And you'd know that if you ever paid attention to me."**

**And with that, she opened the door and stepped outside, making sure she slammed it behind her.**

* * *

**The brunette hugged her coat tighter to her body as she made her way up the long hill to Chloe's house. She walked her fastest, but her little legs made it impossible for her to make it to Chloe's in less than an hour. By the time she got there, it was nearing 5pm, and because of the winter weather, it was already starting to get dark.**

**She opened the gate, wishing that Chloe would just move house already. She smiled though, thinking that in a few weeks, the two of them would be living straight opposite each other. Because the redhead's mother had gotten a job offer at the school five minutes from Beca's house, she decided to look at houses nearer that area, making it easier for Chloe to get to school as well, seeing as they were starting High School and Barden High was only ten minutes away from Beca's house. The redhead said it was fate that the Wilson family opposite Beca decided to put their house up for sale just as her mother decided to look at new houses.**

**She walked up the pathway until she reached the porch, and knocked as soon as she approached the door. It soon opened slowly to reveal Chloe's younger 4 year old brother, and she looked down at him with a smile.**

**"Hey Adam, is Chloe in?"**

**The boy shyly shook his head, and Beca frowned slightly. Just as she was about to ask him where she was, Mary Beale appeared in the doorway with a warm, tired smile.**

**"Hello, Beca."**

**"Hi Miss Beale. Um, do you know where Chloe is?"**

**"I thought she was with you? She told me that she was going for a walk and that she might call in at your house for a while."**

**Beca nodded, thanking the tall redheaded woman with a smile. She turned round and jumped down the three steps of the porch, waving at Mary and Adam as she made her way down the footpath. She knew exactly where the redhead would be, and she smiled slightly before she broke out into a run, only one place in mind.**

**Ten minutes later, she stumbled down the small hill as she looked behind her, making sure nobody saw her trespassing. She approached the broken metal fence, and ducked under it, being careful not to catch her clothes on the broken part of the fence. It had happened before a few weeks ago. She didn't want it to happen again. She'd rather _not_ walk home with a huge rip in her shirt again.**

**"Chloe?" she whispered, sidling her way across the narrow space between the fence and the brick wall. She eventually reached the end, where she found Chloe leaning against a large tree next to the building. She stayed there for a moment, admiring the way Chloe looked. The way she sat. The way she hugged her body, trying to keep warm. The way she stared down at her open notebook. She noted the way her eyebrows were knitted together, making her look confused yet so, _so_ adorable. She noticed the way she bit her bottom lip, something that was always her kryptonite when it came to Chloe Beale.**

**She slowly approached the redhead, and if it wasn't for her stepping on a stick, making it snap, Chloe wouldn't have noticed she was there. Her head shot up, and she smiled instantly when she saw that it was Beca.**

**"Hey." Beca said gently, settling down next to the redhead, and she noticed the way Chloe moved slightly closer to her. "You okay?"**

**She nodded, shivering slightly, this not going unnoticed by Beca. The brunette instinctively pulled her jacket off and draped it across Chloe's shoulders, thankful that it was big enough for the redhead. The redhead moved closer again, and as if on instinct, Beca's arm slid around Chloe's waist as the redhead's head rested on her shoulder. ****The two didn't say anything for a while, opting on sitting in silence, happy to just be together for a while. It wasn't awkward. It wasn't uncomfortable. It was normal. This is what they did. This was Beca and Chloe.**

**They sat there for quite some time before Chloe broke the silence, whispering something that Beca couldn't even hear at first, so she had to ask her to repeat it. It wasn't that she couldn't hear her, per say. It was more that she wasn't paying attention. She was too busy thinking. Thinking about Chloe. About them.**

**"I said, he's gone back."**

**"Already?" Beca asked, knowing exactly what the redhead was talking about, and she felt her nod against her neck, and she could of swore she felt a warm tear drip onto her collarbone. ****She side-hugged Chloe tighter with one arm as her other hand came up to stroke the redhead's cheek, and her suspicions of if the redhead was crying or not was answered when she felt tears on her soft cheeks.**

**"He's gonna be okay, Chlo." she whispered, not even giving Chloe chance to say anything before she spoke up again, with more confidence. "Your dad is probably the strongest man I've ever met. I mean, remember the first time I met him? We were only seven but man, I remember every detail about that day. I remember seeing him in his uniform and I was pretty convinced that he was gonna shoot me or something." they both laughed at the memory, Beca placing a gentle kiss on Chloe's head when she felt her body shiver once again.**

**"I'm just scared that he'll do something stupid, you know? I'm scared he'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it's just.. He's been shot before, and he almost died, Beca. But he's gone back, and it's just so scary not knowing where he is or wh-what he's doing."**

**"Hey listen." Beca whispered, pulling away and cupping the redhead's face in her hands. She looked into her eyes, noticing how scared and vulnerable Chloe looked, and she smiled warmly at her. "I know that your scared. Even _I'm_ scared. Yeah, I know right. Little, emotionless, badass cold-hearted Beca Mitchell is scared, right?" at this, Chloe giggled a little as a tear rolled down her cheek, and Beca immediately wiped it away.**

**"You not as badass as you think you are." she teased, and Beca's mouth dropped open, feigning shock. But the redhead sobered up immediately, and Beca tried another smile. "You're not cold-hearted either." she whispered, and if it was't for their close proximity, Beca wouldn't have heard her.**

**"What I'm saying, is that it's okay to be scared. It's okay not to be okay. You've got to keep reminding yourself that. So what, you're scared? That's okay. You're worried about what will happen to your dad? That's okay too. It's normal. I can't make any promises, but I will promise you one thing." she paused, looking deep into the redhead's glossy eyes, trying her best to convey every emotion into her little speech. She took a deep breath, stroking the pad of her thumb over Chloe's cheekbone. "I promise you that whatever happens, I'm always gonna be right here. Even if it's the end of the world, and zombies take over. I'll be right here beside you. Holding your hand."**

**The redhead let out a choked sob, moving in to pull Beca in to a tight embrace. She buried her nose into her collarbone, and Beca squeezed her eyes shut as she rubbed the redhead's back.**

**"How did I get so lucky to have a best friend like you?" Chloe asked shakily, and Beca let out a soft laugh.**

**"I think I'm the lucky one here, Beale."**

* * *

Beca's feet dragged across the floor as she stared at the ground, following Wade through the long, grim, blood covered corridors. She shivered at the cold, and also at the creepiness of the building. Yes, after six years, she still hasn't got used to the awful stench and the fact that thousands of people have died in here. They eventually reached a large door, and Wade looked down at her and smirked as he banged his fist on it four times, his machine gun secured around his neck with his other hand holding the gun up pointing it at Beca.

The door opened, and Beca's heartbeat sped up as Wade pushed her into the room, almost making her trip over her own feet. She looked around the dark room belligerently, searching for any clue as to what they were about to do to her. Her heart was racing a thousand miles a minute, and she hugged her body as the coldness of the empty room washed over her.

She jumped when Wade loudly cleared his throat, and she never would have prepared herself for the body that stepped out of the shadows. She gulped, looked between Wade and the woman who seemed to look so.. lost. Broken. Innocent. Frightened.

She eventually let out a breath of air when she noticed that Wade didn't look like he was going to keep her from approaching the girl at the other side of the room, so she broke out into a run and their bodies crashed together in a tight embrace.

"I was so worried when I woke up and you wasn't there." the woman whispered in Beca's ear, and the brunette shivered at the warm breath on her neck.

"How long have you been here? What have they done to you?" she pulled back, examining the redhead with sharp, angry eyes. "Please tell me they didn't-"

"-No, Bec. They haven't done anything."

The brunette's eyes searched Chloe's for any lies or denial but she saw nothing but honesty in them. That and of course, fear. She pulled her in for another hug, and she brought one hand up to stroke the back of her head as the other hand wrapped around her back. She turned her head to the side to place a soft kiss on her temple, and she could almost feel Chloe's heart beating hard against her chest.

"Never leave me." Chloe whispered, and Beca squeezed her eyes shut tight, not letting any tears escape her eyes.

"I promised you, remember? I'm always gonna be right here. Holding your hand." As if to prove her point, she lowed her hand and entwined their fingers together, pulling away slightly but still keeping their bodies close. She cupped Chloe's face, and stared deep into her eyes.

Their embrace was soon cut short though, as Beca was harshly pulled away by her shoulders, causing her to look around sharply, confused and worried for her and her best friend's life.

"What are you doing?!" she asked Wade, who had an evil smirk on his face. "Let me go!"

"Goodbye's are over. Come on, princess."

_**Wait.. Goodbyes?**_ She thought. _**What does he mean?**_

"No!" she yelled, struggling in his firm grip. "Let go of me!"

"Beca!" Chloe yelled, and Beca's head snapped over to where the redhead was standing. Where she was standing now with the other two guards, Joe and Seth, next to her, each with a gun to her head. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked completely helpless.

"Chloe, no! Let go!" she thrashed her body around, trying to pry herself from his grip but once again, it was no use.

"Beca, please just stop!" she heard Chloe yell, and her eyes immediately met the redhead's. She looked so scared and innocent, like a frightened little kitten. The thrashing and struggling stopped as she stared straight ahead of her into Chloe's eyes. And even from where she was standing at the other side of the dim-lit room, she could still see the panic and distress in her glossy, tearful eyes.

It seemed like time seemed to stop for them both as the two competed in some sort of stare down. Beca's eyes were filled with hatred. Hatred for Seth and Joe who were holding two guns up to her best friend's head right now. Hatred to Wade, who had a firm, tight grip on her shoulders as he held her against him. Hatred for these sick, twisted bastards who were doing this to them right now. Hatred for herself, for not protecting Chloe like she promised.

"Come on." Wade grunted, pulling her through the door, and Beca only managed to say "I love-" before the door shut in her face and a gunshot ricocheted off of the walls.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"CHLOE!" She screamed out in horror, loud enough to almost pierce her own eardrums as she thrashed about in Wade's arms. Immediate tears streamed down her face at the sound of the gunshot, and she was pretty sure her heart had just broken clean in half.

She suddenly slammed her head backwards, the impact causing Wade to stumble back a bit and almost lose his footing, but he didn't let go of her. She had her back pressed against him, him holding her tightly against his torso. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and his other arm was holding her back against his chest by the neck, probably tight enough to choke her, and she had both hands gripping his huge, ripped arm.

She obviously knew that she'd be no match for him, but she was too filled with rage, heartbreak and agony to even think about what she was doing at that moment. She moved her mouth down towards his arm and bit as hard as she could, her eyes filled with nothing but adrenaline as she felt the skin break underneath her teeth. He grunted loudly, finally letting go of her and dropping her down on the floor.

"Little bitch!" he yelled, holding his bleeding arm as he stretched his leg out and kicked her in the gut, making her fall onto the floor clutching her stomach with choked coughs.

She originally planned on getting back up to try and hurt him as much as he had hurt her, to try and kill him and then go and save Chloe; to try and protect her best friend just like she promised she always would. But the plan backfired when she stood up, only to collapse back to the ground, coughing from the blow she took to the stomach. She was choking back her sobs, whimpers wracking her body, stifling she screams she wanted to let out so badly. She keeled over on her knees, her back arching as she slammed her forehead against the floor a few times, pushing her palms hard against her ears to drown out the sound of Wade's cynical laughs, mocking and angering her to no end.

"Get the fuck up now." Wade growled at her, knocking her hip with his huge, studded boot. She pushed herself off of the ground with shaky legs, Wade watching her with his face showing no sign of emotion. As she looked up at him, she saw no hint of remorse. No sympathy and absolutely no sorrow. She took in the shape of his harsh cheekbones and sunken skin around his sadistic smile, dark circles under his lifeless eyes and prominent, arched eyebrows.

He had the look of pure evil.

The man grabbed her arm harshly, though there was absolutely no point in trying to hurt her. It didn't hurt one bit. Right now, she was pretty sure that she would voluntarily throw herself into a sea of zombies and it wouldn't bother her. She could get shot in the stomach, and it wouldn't hurt. Not as much as her heart was hurting. Absolutely nothing could match up to even a fraction of the pain she was feeling in her heart right now.

He dragged her through the long hall, too fast for her feet to catch up to him. She was in pain, but she didn't even bother to acknowledge it. Her arm could be broken from how hard he was gripping it for all she cared. That's the thing though. She didn't care. She didn't give a sing fuck what they did to her now.

Chloe was gone.

_**Her** _Chloe was gone, and there wasn't a damn thing they could do now that would live up to how hurt and broken she felt.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked with clenched teeth, looking up at him and wincing as he let out a vicious, spine-chilling laugh. Her arm started to ache as he dragged her through the grimy hall, and she was certain that there would already be a bruise from where his large hand was gripping her bicep.

He didn't answer her.

Of course he didn't answer her.

He just carried on dragging her with him, until they reached another door. (One that she wasn't even sure what was behind it because all the doors look the same in this place.) It opened, and this time, she was shocked to see that it was remarkably clean. No sign of death. No smell of dead bodies. No blood stained on the walls.

She was pushed inside once again, and she suppressed the urge to tell him that there was no need for him to push her everywhere. No need at all. She looked around at the small room. It was all white. There was a white sheet on the floor, and she guessed that it was what she would be using to sleep on. There was no pillow. Nothing else actually, apart from a small, kiddy-sized toilet in the corner.

It looked like a room for a mental patient.

"Have fun, princess." Wade grinned at her, throwing her backpack at her before he slammed the door harshly and locked it behind him.

* * *

_**2 hours ago..**_

**After being told to leave her bag and weapons behind, Chloe immediately knew that she was being taken away for something other than a mission. Whenever someone got sent out of the gate for a task, they would not let them go without something or someone to protect them. (They may be evil, but they wouldn't let them go anywhere without any protection. Not now that there were only a few of them left.)**

**And now? Thoughts were racing around Chloe's mind as Joe and Seth both pulled her down the hall, and all she could think of was Beca. Was she okay? What if they were taking her to see her dead body? Just to torture her even more? What if they had done something horrible to her, and was making her see the impact? What if she had.. what if.. **

**w****hat if she had been bitten?**

**She started to panic as they approached a large door, green moss covering the bolts and hinges due to it's old age, and old, maroon-coloured blood covering it. She could almost feel her heart beating in her mouth. Her breath quickened and she used every muscle in her body to stifle a whimper.**

**She was fucking terrified.**

**"Um.. what are you going to do to me?" she asked in barely a whisper, looking to her left at Joe, and she could of sworn she saw a hint of solace in his eyes, just for a split second before he frowned and pushed his shotgun against her back. She gasped at the pressure, and tried not to cry out of pure fear for what was going to happen to her.**

**Seth was the one to open the door, and Chloe cringed as the creaking of it echoed off of the walls. She was pushed inside, the gun still digging into the bottom of her back. Immediately, the cold air of the room sent shivers down her spine, sent the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, and caused her arms to come up and hug her body. ****There was one single light hanging off of the roof, where it only illuminated a small circle in the middle of the room. **Her eyes darted around as if she was waiting for something to catch her eye.

**This was much different to the other rooms. **

**It was empty. ****Not filled with dead, rotting bodies for once.**** She was shaking. And despite the chill in the room, a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead onto her eyebrow. She could hardly breathe.**

**"We've gotta wait here. Captain's orders." Joe mumbled, and Chloe let out a breath of air as she felt him remove the head of his gun from her back. She stood as still as a statue, as if she had been frozen in her spot.**

**Fifteen minutes later, and a loud bang made the three of them jump; Chloe more so than the other two men. **

**"What was that?" Joe asked Seth, looking around the room, but there was no point. It was pitch black anyway.**

**"I dunno, go 'ave a look." he shot back groggily, and the man got up without questioning why, while Seth moved closer to Chloe.**

**She should of known it'd be a set-up.**

**"Now we can 'ave some fun." He whispered in her ear as his hands came up to grip her hips painfully, pulling her towards him so that her back was pressed against his torso. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his large, rough hand move up her stomach, and his lips pressed sadistically against her ear.**

**He smelled like death and BO and alcohol and cigarettes mixed into one. Her limbs went numb with fear and if it was possible, her heart started to slam harder against her rib cage, as if begging to come out of her body. (Only it didn't; as much as she wished that it would.)**

**"Please. Please d-don't do this." she breathed out, not helping the tears from streaming down her face as she stifled her sobs, biting her lip hard enough to almost draw blood.**

**"Undo your belt." he whispered against her ear, his breath causing the redhead's breathing to speed up dramatically. She started to panic, shaking her head and opening her mouth a few times to try and speak. But no words came out.**

**"I said," he shot at her evilly in a hushed, vicious whisper, "undo your fucking belt."**

**She reached down to the hem of her jeans, trying her hardest not to scream for help. It wouldn't be much use anyway. It would only attract her attention to Joe, and she'd rather not have both of them take advantage of her. She pulled the strap of the belt out of the hoop, undoing it slowly and she gasped as she felt his gun at the side of her head. **

**"Hurry up."**

**She let out a sob, undoing the button of her jeans with shaking hands as he held her at gunpoint, his other hand gripping her waist so tight that she was pretty sure that it was going to leave a bruise. She ignored it though. It's nothing that they hadn't done before.**

**"Seth!"**

**The redhead gasped, choking another sob back as the man behind her let go of her waist and removed the gun from her temple.  
**

**"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"**

**"I was just 'aving some fun with 'er." he grumbled.**

**"You're not here to have fun, you fucking buffoon. You're here to work. Don't mess with the code, okay? You got that?!"**

**The man puffed out a breath, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up, not even paying attention to the way he blew the smoke straight into Chloe's face, making her splutter and choke on it. She buckled her belt up again, trying to stop her hands from shaking as she did so.**

**She had no idea why Joe had stopped Seth, but she was thankful. So fucking thankful.**

**The sound of someone pounding on the door pulled her out of her jumbled thoughts (that she had no idea what any of them meant) and her breath hitched when she saw the familiar figure of her best friend standing in the doorway. The brunette was pushed inside, immediately hugging her body much like Chloe had done.**

**Wade cleared his throat, and Chloe felt two hands push her forward, making her visible to the brunette, who looked to be absolutely terrified. A few minutes passed before s****he ran towards Chloe, the redhead meeting her halfway as their bodies crashed into each other. And the impact hurt them. God, it fucking hurt.**

**But it felt so good.**

**"I was so worried when I woke up and you wasn't there." she breathed out, hugging Beca's body tighter against her.**

**"How long have you been here? What have they done to you?" the brunette pulled back from her, examining her with sharp, angry eyes. "Please tell me they didn't-"**

**"-No, Bec. They haven't done anything."**

**The brunette's eyes searched Chloe's for any lies or denial but she saw nothing but honesty in them. That and of course, fear. Chloe was pulled in to another bone-crushing hug, and she felt Beca's hand stroking her hair as the other hand tightened around her back. She felt the brunette turn her head to the side to place a soft kiss on her temple, and the redhead was pretty sure that her heartbeat was now pounding in a way that certainly wasn't healthy.**

**"Never leave me." Chloe whispered, and Beca squeezed her eyes shut tight, not letting any tears escape her eyes.**

**"I promised you, remember? I'm always gonna be right here. Holding your hand." As if to prove her point, she lowed her hand and entwined their fingers together, pulling away slightly but still keeping their bodies close. She cupped Chloe's face, and stared deep into her eyes. It was as if she wanted to tell her something. A confession. A fact. A home-truth. Anything.**

**She could see the fear in her eyes though.**

**Their embrace was soon cut short as Beca was harshly pulled away from her, causing her to look around sharply, obviously confused and worried for her and her best friend's life.**

**"What are you doing?!" she yelled at Wade, who had an evil smirk on his face. "Let me go!"**

**"Goodbye's are over. Come on, princess."**

**"No!" she yelled, struggling in his firm grip. "Let go of me!"**

**"Beca!" Chloe yelled, and Beca's head snapped over to her, where she was now standing with Joe and Seth next to her, each with a gun to her head. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked completely helpless. Her heart was pounding. Her breathing labored and hitched.**

**This was it.**

**"Chloe, no! Let go!" she thrashed her body around, trying to pry herself from his grip but once again, it was no use.**

**"Beca, please just stop!" Chloe found herself yelling, and she watched as Beca stopped, staring straight at her. The thrashing and struggling stopped as she stared straight ahead of her into Chloe's eyes. And even from where Chloe was standing at the other side of the dim-lit room, she could still see the anger, hatred and terror in her eyes.**

**But also the love.**

* * *

Chloe's scream echoed off of the walls as the gun was pushed roughly against her temple. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she heard Seth load his gun at the same time the door slammed shut, and Beca's voice was cut off. The brunette's face was the last thing she saw before an excruciatingly loud gunshot pierced her eardrums.

Her breathing was ragged and she could see various shapes behind her eyelids from how tight she had been shutting her eyes. Her heart was pumping faster than ever, and she was pretty sure that she was..-_**Wait a minute.**_

Her heart was beating.

She was.. feeling things?

...she was alive?

Her eyes immediately shot open, and she let out a scream as she looked down and saw Seth's dead body on the floor, a pool of his own blood surrounding him.

A rough hand suddenly clasped around her mouth and the man hugged her body against his. She grunted against the hand as she tried to push herself off of him, stopping when she felt a hot, surprisingly consoling breath whisper against her ear.

"Don't be scared."

* * *

**A/N: Ooo, cliffhanger! I know I kinda just repeated the scene from the last chapter, but I had to show you it from Chloe's point of view. (And hey, at least Chloe isn't dead!)**

**To respond to RadforR's review about what movie I was watching that inspired this, I'm sorry but I honestly have no idea. My brother decided to put the movie on and I can't remember the name of it because I was like, half-paying attention. (I know, I'm hopeless.) ****But while we're on the subject of movies.. would anybody be kind enough to recommend some movies for me? Preferably action/thriller movies? (I don't care if they're popular or indie.) I would be very, very grateful and I'd love you forever and ever.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Don't be scared."

Her eyes widened, and like a sudden bout of strength overtook her, she quickly pulled the man's hand away from her mouth and snapped her head around to look at him, taking a few large steps back as she stared straight at the man. The man who had just saved her life. The man who wasn't supposed to be saving her life.

_**Don't be scared.**_ She repeated in her head. Scared? Yeah. If only it was that easy.

The truth? It was fucking impossible.

It was impossible not to be scared. She had been scared for six years now. She had been scared for so long that it was simply impossible for her not to be scared anymore. She was constantly terrified. It was like second nature to her. She was constantly terrified not only for herself, but for her friends. The people who she had come to love over these past 6 years. And yes, in a zombie apocalypse, it was kinda hard to trust people, never mind love them. But she did. She loved them all.

But she was still scared. Of what they could do to her, or the people out there in that hall who were probably worrying where she was right now. She was scared for Aubrey; scared that something bad could happen to her too, like it has before. She was scared for Stacie too, and Jesse, and Benji. Everybody.

But mostly?

She was scared for Beca.

"What did you do that for?" she managed to spit out, moving backwards as he approached her cautiously, gasping when she came into contact with the hard wall. Her eyes darted around the dark room, but as soon as they met Seth's body laying lifeless on the floor in the middle, she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"I had to shoot him, Chloe. He was going to kill you." Joe said in a calm tone as he held his hands up, showing her that he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Why didn't you let him kill me?!"

"Because I'm here to help you."

"What-why?! Why now?! Why the fuck couldn't you have helped me six years ago, Joe?!" she screamed at him, suddenly remembering back to the day. The God awful day that she still had nightmares about. The day that had started everything.

* * *

_**6 years ago..**_

_**"Beale." Chloe's eyes widened as she was pushed forward towards the table that separated her from Joe. She looked down at him, holding her hand out as she let him attach her tracker bracelet to her wrist just like he had done to all the other kids. He closed it tight around her, and she winced as it squeezed her wrist, the sharp pains causing her to whimper a little.**_

_**Each band had a tracker inside it which showed The Society where they were, in case anyone was stupid enough to escape. (Two people had tried it already. Of course, they didn't last ten seconds.) Each band has a number too, which Chloe thought was stupid because, wasn't it easier to remember names than numbers? And with the amount of people here, surely they'd mix everyone's numbers up. Anyway.. her number was 312. And because Beca was in front of her in the queue, the brunette was given the number 311.**_

_**She examined over the number, running her thumb across the engraving on it as Joe wrote her name down next to her number.**_

_**"That way." Joe pointed to the left of her, and she frowned.**_

_**"What-why? Why can't I go that way?" she pointed to her right-hand side where everybody else was standing, including Beca who was giving her a questioning, worried look.**_

_**"Because I told you to go that way. Don't question me ever again. Go."**_

_**She took one more look at Beca, gave her a small, painful smile, and walked to her left-hand side.**_

_**As she stood there, she kept her eyes on Beca's who was standing at the other side of the field. There were soldiers surrounding them, holding their guns tight to their chests as they kept their eyes on everyone.**_

_**They had all been separated by their ages. The older ones taken to another base just a few minutes away, same with the younger ones. Beca had stayed by her side the whole way, as her mother had been taken somewhere else. She was terrified, but the brunette had managed to calm her down a little in the truck on the way here.**_

_**She didn't know what was going on. A few hours ago, she was playing on the Xbox with Beca, both of them having fun and there were nothing that could bring her down. But then.. the street was surrounded by FBI vans and police cars, they were burning houses down, taking people away from their families, and even killing people on site. **_

_**And on the way here. There was only one window in the van that she was sharing with Beca, Jesse, Stacie, Benji, Luke, and two other girls named Ellen and Jane. She had looked out of the small window and saw something. She had no idea what the hell it was, but it wasn't human.**_

_**She didn't want to believe it, but she could of sworn it was a zombie.**_

_**As she stood there on her own, she looked around to see that nobody was paying attention to her. Joe, the man who was previously placing the tracker bands on everybody's wrists, was now talking to one of the security guards. She looked around, seeing that there was about two hundred people here, ranging from different ages.**_

_**She tried to figure out what exactly was happening, but she couldn't for the life of her, come up with any coherent conclusions. The only solution she could come up with is that the world was being taken over. By what? She didn't know. She wanted to ask someone what was happening, but nobody was paying enough attention to her. She was the only one standing on her own on the left-hand side of the line of people that still need their tracker bands. Everybody else, including her friends, were on the other side.**_

_**A few minutes later, after completely zoning out, she jumped when she felt a rough hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Joe standing next to her, his gun pointed at her, and she could of sworn that her heart stopped beating as the barrel of the gun pushed against her temple.**_

_**"CHLOE!"**_

_**She recognized that voice anywhere. It was Beca. Obviously, it was Beca. She turned her head to see that the brunette was being held back by two guards. She was thrashing about, trying to push them away from here, but it was no use.**_

_**"Three-twelve." Joe said, causing her to look up at him with pleading, frightened eyes. "Your first assignment is to search for some supplies." **_

_**She could feel her heart rate increase as Joe started to push her towards the huge gate, and she didn't know what the hell to do. What was happening? What was going to happen to her? Where the hell is she supposed to find supplies?**_

_**She heard Beca scream her name once again, but then her voice was muffled by one of the guards hands covering her mouth. She wanted to turn around to reassure Beca, to let her know that she was fine. But she knew it'd be a lie, so she didn't bother. She wasn't fine at all.**_

_**"Giggs! Open the gate!" Joe yelled, the man in the booth by the gate suddenly pulling the lever down to open the gate up.**_

_**Chloe's heart sped up at what could be behind the gate. She was supposed to go get supplies for them, but how the hell is she supposed to survive out there? How much does she need? Where the hell is she supposed to go to get them? How long should she be out there? How long will it take before she get's killed?**_

_**Once the huge gate was opened so that Chloe could duck under it, she was pushed out of it by Joe. He kneeled down, and she looked down at him with scared, pleading eyes. The tears were streaming out of them but she didn't even notice, due to the fear she felt. She was terrified.**_

_**He pulled a pistol out of his holser, checking to see if it had any ammo in it before nodding his approval and pushing it into her hands.**_

_**"Just firewood." he whispered, and she could have sworn she saw a hint of regret in his eyes before the gate was slammed shut, and Chloe let out a strangled cry.**_

_**She whirled around, backing up against the huge, metal gate as she gripped the pistol in both shaking hands. Her eyes darted around her surroundings, but nothing seemed out of place. It was basically just a dry desert, although it wasn't as hot. **__**There was no sign of life anywhere. Not even any trees.**_

_**"Crap." she muttered under her breath, realizing that she'd have to actually walk for a while if there was any way that she could find any firewood, due to there being no wildlife around. She took one more deep breath, holding the pistol tight in her hand as she set off walking.**_

_**About 45 minutes later, Chloe was pretty sure that she was gonna die from how dehydrated she was. It turned out that she underestimated just how warm it was out in the open, and God, what she wouldn't do for a drink right now.**_

_**The good news though, was that she had managed to find some firewood at a small clearing a half hour from base, and she was now on her way back. Her pistol was still gripped tightly in her hand, and she hadn't fired it yet, which was a good sign. **__**There was nothing peculiar around her, not even any animals. She would have thought that there would be a few birds flying around, or at least some snakes or spiders. But nope. Absolutely nothing.**_

_**It was when she was about 10 minutes away from base that she decided to hum quietly to herself. Boy was that a bad idea.**_

_**A snarling sound from behind her caused her to whip her head around, her eyes instantly widening at the sight of a two-headed dog standing a few meters away. She choked back a scream as she realized that she was alone out here, and that screaming would only anger the.. thing, and it would probably rip her to shreds without a second thought.**_

_**Instead, she slowly started backing away. Taking small, minuscule steps, and trying not to trip over her feet. She ran her finger over the trigger on her gun, her heart pounding faster and faster as the dog-like creature snarled and growled at her.**_

_**She quickly looked around to see if there were anymore, and luckily, there wasn't. She didn't know where the hell it came from, but right now, she was too scared and overwhelmed to ask any questions. Her mind was racing as she kept her eyes on the mutt, not breaking eye contact, and not making any sudden movements.**_

_**Without warning, she quickly squeezed her eyes shut and pointed the pistol ahead of her, pulling the trigger and letting out a silent scream when she felt the power from the gun impact her wrist. She opened her eyes, gasping when she saw that she had hit the dog straight in the eye.**_

_**It wasn't dead though. No, it was stumbling towards her, now snarling even more, baring it's sharp, bloody teeth at her**_

_**She suddenly turned around and bolted, the few pieces of firewood still lodged under her left arm and the pistol in her right hand. Her hands cut through the air, and she could almost hear the swooshing sound they made, along with her feet clapping on the ground. She took a glance behind her to see that the dog was now running after her, and she could feel her muscles burning as she sprinted faster.**_

_**Soon enough, she could see the base. She didn't know what she expected. Maybe she expected the gates to be open, ready and waiting for her. But they weren't. And as she turned around, risking another shot at the dog, and missing by an inch, she couldn't help the ear-piercing scream erupting from her throat as her muscles burned from all the running.**_

* * *

**_Meanwhile.._**

_**"She's been gone for almost an hour now, please can I go find her. Please, I don't need any weapons or anything, I just need to see if she's okay. I need my best friend, please. Please let me find her. I won't-"**_

_**"-Will someone remove this midget from my side before I fucking shoot her in the face?"**_

_**The brunette gasped, fresh tears spilling out from her eyes as she immediately backed away from Joe. He had a vicious scowl on his face, and he kept checking his watch, pacing around where everyone were stood waiting for Chloe to come back.**_

_**She wanted to ask him again if she could go out and find her best friend, but she didn't want to risk getting him even more angry than he was. So she just stood with her arms dangling by her sides as she stared down at the floor, tears dropping on to her feet. And she didn't even have the energy to wipe them away.**_

_**"BECA!"**_

_**Her head shot up, eyes widening and mouth gaping as she looked around to see that every body else seemed to look like they had heard it too.**_

_**"Did you hear that?!" she yelled, looking around frantically at everybody. She tried to find Jesse, or Aubrey, or somebody in the crowd, just to check to see if she had heard that properly. But there were no responses from anyone.**_

_**Suddenly, a loud pounding from the gate echoed around the base, and Beca could hear Chloe's cries for help. She recognized them anywhere. Before anybody could even think to respond, she set off sprinting towards the gate. **__**The man who was behind the lever was paying no attention, and only noticed Beca when she climbed in the booth and pulled the lever down.**_

_**The creaking of the gate sounded out, and Beca jumped down from the booth as she ran towards the gate, panting and sighing in relief when she saw Chloe roll underneath it.**_

_**"Shut the gate! Shut the gate!" the redhead screamed, throwing the firewood on the floor, making it scatter all over. The brunette rushed to her side, dropping down beside her as the redhead panted for air.**_

_**"Shut the gate!"**_

_**Before the gate could be shut, two loud gunshots echoed around them, followed by the sound of a dog's whimpers and cries. Beca's head shot up to see Joe pointing his gun towards the gate, and she followed the direction of the gun to see the two headed dog laid lifeless on the floor, two bullet wounds in each of it's heads.**_

_**"What is that?!" she asked nobody in particular, her question going unanswered as she scooted closer to Chloe.**_

_**She breathed out a sigh, looking down to see Chloe lying on her back, one hand on her stomach and her other hand by her side, still gripping the pistol tight enough to turn her finger tips white. Her chest was heaving, and she was staring up at the sky with wide, terrified eyes.**_

_**"Chloe." Beca whispered, taking Chloe's head in her hands and guiding her to look her in the eyes. "Chloe, look at me. Look at me, you're fine. I've got you. I'm right here."**_

_**"Am I dead?" the redhead asked quietly, her eyes fluttering shut, and the brunette let out a choked sob as the tears spilled out of her eyes.**_

_**"No, you're alive. You're gonna be alright."**_

_**Beca slowly rubbed her hand over Chloe's still-shaking hand which was holding the gun, and she felt her grip loosen at the feeling of Beca's warm hand closing around hers. The brunette took the weapon out of her hands, slowly setting it down on the ground next to her before she pulled Chloe up into a sitting position.**_

_**"I was so scared." the brunette whispered as she pulled the redhead into her chest, hugging her tightly. The redhead let out a choked sob at the vulnerability in Beca's voice. It wasn't often that the brunette admitted that she was scared. It wasn't often that she admitted anything, really. But Chloe knew anyway, without having to hear the brunette voice it. They were both absolutely paralyzed with fear.**_

* * *

"You knew for a fact that there were things out there that could have killed me! You could have saved me. You could have chosen someone else to go, but you didn't. Why?!"

"I **_couldn't_** have chosen someone else! Wade ordered me to send **_you_** out or I could have died, Chloe."

"Why me?!"

"I don't know!"

"That's fucking bullshit!"

"Don't even dare. You don't understand the shit I've gone through to save your life!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she let out a bitter laugh, suddenly stepping forward and pushing Joe in the chest. Although her upper body strength had improved dramatically over the past six years, she still wasn't strong enough to do any harm to the man. In fact he hardly even flinched. So she carried on hitting his chest, slamming her fists into his torso until she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "I was fourteen years old, Joe! Why did you do it?!"

"To save you!"

"YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!" She screamed, the words feeling like poison in the back of her throat. "Beca was the one who saved me! We were fourteen! We were scared and we had no idea what was gonna happen to us out there! What would have happened to me if Beca hadn't opened that gate?! Would you have just left me out there to die? Huh?! Would you?!"

The man shook his head and looked down at the ground, and the redhead could see the sorrow in his eyes. She wouldn't acknowledge that though. Not right now. She was fucking fuming, and all she wanted to do was take his knife out of his holster and stab him in the heart. But she knew that she wouldn't get any answers that way, and it would make things even more complicated.

"You're right, and I'm sorry." he whispered, and the redhead's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, you're sorry. Well that just makes everything better, doesn't it? You're **_sorry_**! Fuck you, Joe!"

"Yes, I **_am_** sorry Chloe! But right now, we don't have the time for this." he said, looking back up at her. "I need you to put on a disguise. Dress up as a guard."

She frowned, shaking her head frantically as Joe stepped towards Seth's dead body. "What? No!"

"Do you want to die?!"

"No, but-"

"No buts. Take Seth's clothes off and put them on." he ordered, pulling all of the weapons from the man. Including the shotgun around his neck, the two pistols in his holster, a pair of handcuffs, a military knife and of course, his Society ID.

"They're covered in blood and that's.. that's just gross."

"Listen to me." he suddenly growled, walking towards her and making her back up against the wall again. "What did I tell you when we got here six years ago?"

"Not to question you." she whispered.

"And what have I kept on telling you for the past six years?"

"Not to question you."

"That's right. So do as I tell you, and put Seth's clothes on."

She sighed, walking over to Seth's body, holding her breath as she pulled the zipper of his down jacket down, feeling the blood on it as she pulled it off of him.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"To save your fucking girlfriend before they kill her."

"She's.. who-Beca? She's not my girlfriend." she shot back straight away with a frown, shaking her head as she pulled Seth's trousers on over her own, wincing and cringing at the wet blood on the uniform.

"She's not?"

"No."

"Oh." he nodded, knitting his eyebrows together. "Could've fooled me."

Chloe just shook her head as she put Seth's helmet on over her head, making a gagging sound at the stench inside it. She opened the front of the helmet and breathed in, but Joe slammed it shut again before handing the shotgun to Chloe.

"Keep it shut, or they'll notice you straight away."

The redhead only nodded, trying to fight the urge to throw the helmet off and gasp for breath, but it was too late. Joe had already opened the door, and they were soon stepping out of it. Chloe not knowing what the hell was going to happen from here.


End file.
